According to a report, BAFTA is in the process of merging the male and female acting categories into gender-neutral ones, or at least it remains under serious consideration, according to outgoing chief executive Amanda Berry.
Flawed idea? The acting awards are the main draw, why would you cut them in half? This is BAFTA basically injecting politics into the fear. Imagine the media meltdowns anytime a man wins over a woman. The categories are fine as they are. Making them more and more political alienates more and more people.
You’d also have to expand Lead Performance and Supporting Performance into 10 nominee categories, and what if there are 7 male and only 3 female performers nominated one year? Again, imagine the backlash. What the Oscars, BAFTAS, etc need to have is as little controversy as possible. The amount of backlash and squabbling that happens every year due to political activism has turned mind-numbing at this point. This latest attempt by BAFTA would only add fuel to the fire.